Guardian: And The Watcher's Note
by Zall88
Summary: Alex, Catherine, & Ida have the powers of Earth, Fire, & Water. Their goal? Find their dads from an unknown villain & discover who The Watcher is. But what happens when they get caught up with Demetrius, Kenneth, and Bj? This is my own story I wrote. :


_**Chapter One:**_

_Alone_

Okay, take a deep breath. It all started when my two best friends, Catherine, Karida, and I, Alexandra, were all born within an hour of each other.

Catherine is the smallest, but the oldest of us all. She has short blonde hair and light blue eyes. Her name means pure and we all agreed that was the perfect meaning for Catherine. She is always in a pure spirit, but if you get her angry, you better be running for cover.

Next there was me. My friends call me Alex, because they know that Alexandra is too formal and girly for me. I have long raven colored hair, about mid back, and vibrant emerald eyes. My name may sound girly, but the meaning is nothing close to the sound. My name means defender of mankind which is perfect for me in my opinion.

Then last there was Karida, who we all call Ida for short. Ida may be the youngest of the three of us, but she is also the strongest. She has short brown hair and brown-green eyes. It can get kind of hard to keep track of the color, it changes all the time. Karida means to be untouched, and Ida means to be hardworking. Catherine said that it was perfect for her, because of her hardworking personality she is almost impossible to touch in combat.

At the time of our birth, our parents didn't know what to expect of us. We looked like just ordinary babies at first glance. That is, until you held us.

Catherine was scolding hot at birth. The doctor almost dropped her when she came out. They put icepacks on her, but the ice only melted at the first contact with her skin.

Ida and I sort of had the same reaction out of the doctors; we both were at the temperature of the room. When they changed the temperature in the room, so did our body temperature.

By the time we were all three, Catherine had fire coming out of her ears when she got angry. And I do mean that she had fire coming out of her ears. Real life burning fire.

When I turned three, about an hour later than Catherine, I tripped on a rock and when I threw my hands out to catch me, I never hit the ground. I opened my eyes to see that some vines had grown out of the ground and caught me in mid trip. I waved my hand, and the vines put me up right. So, when sixty minuets later Ida turned three, we were all sitting around waiting to see what would happen to her. Ida sneezed, and water went everywhere. It really was gross, but at the time we thought it was the funniest thing in the world.

When we showed our parents, they freaked out on us. You have to give them some credit though. If your three year old daughter came up to you and made a vine grow out of thin air, then her friend lit it on fire, only to have the other friend put it out, what would be your reaction?

Well, our parents' reaction was to have us all brought to the doctor. That was big mistake number one. Ida flooded her examination room, Catherine lit her doctor on fire, and mine got tied to his chair. Our moms were so scared, that they tried to put us at an adoption center. Our dads may have been freaked out by the whole 'my child has supernatural powers' thing, but they still loved us. They were not about to let our moms just dump us off at some adoption center. There was a lot of yelling and fighting that went on at that point, and all of our families ended in the same result. Our parents got divorces and our dads got custody of the three kids with unearthly talents. Our dads have always kept us together. My best guess is because we learned to counteract each others' powers.

Which puts us where we are right now, out in the middle of nowhere, in a broken down camper, with all of our dads trying to figure out how to change a flat. Let me give you some advice, if your going to live in a bus with your two best friends, that are also both fourteen, and their dads, make sure that at least one person knows how to change a flat tire.

"Hey, uh, little trio. We might be gone for a little bit, so you guys can go and train for a bit if you want. Nobodies out here so don't worry about being caught," Catherine's dad, Chris, yelled into the camper.

"Alright, see you later dad!" Catherine yelled back as she got up and walked toward the door.

Ida got up and followed, so I did the same. We were all just barely out of the camper, when Catherine started to warm up. And let me tell you, lighting a fire right by a broken camper full of gas, not the best idea.

"Catherine, you might want to wait till we're a little farther away from the camper. Remember last time," I stated, raising a single eyebrow at her.

Catherine laughed and walked out into the distance to stand a good distance away. We all walked for about five, maybe ten minuets; just to be sure that was a large gap between us and a full tank of gas, along with all of our stuff.

"Okay Alex, you start us off," Ida said as we all got into our battle positions.

I turned to my side and planted my feet, bending my knees, and raising my arms in a defensive position. Catherine put her feet out next to her and bent her knees, with her arms out to each of her sides. I looked over to see Ida in a half running position. I took a deep breath and tensed my muscles, throwing my arms upward, just before I threw them, palms facing out, forward.

This caused vines and trees to sprout all over the ground. Catherine smiled to herself before huge fire balls appeared in her hands. She began to cast them at the trees and the, now moving, vines, lighting each one on fire. Ida sighed and began to form water to put each one out. We continued to do that for about two hours before we saw dust form out in the distance. Ida quickly put the rest of the fires out as we rushed back to the camper.

"Do you think it's a sand storm?" Ida asked as we all climbed in the camper after one another.

"No, it's too small to be a sand storm. It has to be a car, or a truck of some sort," I announced as we all began to change out of our dirty clothes, that had gotten burned, soaked, and scratched due to our little bursts of anger when we couldn't get things right

That was when we heard an engine stop right next to the door of the camper. No, not just one engine, but numerous engines. I looked behind me to see that Catherine and Ida both had the same expression on their faces as I did. There was no mistaking that look. That look was worry, alarm, and wonder all mixed into one expression.

"Hide," Ida whispered.

We all scurried to some form of hiding place. In fact, there was really only one place to hide that would cause us some sort of safety. That place was the closet that Ida's dad, Robert, had built the three of us one year. We all climbed into the closet and closed the doors. Catherine elbowed me in the stomach.

"Ouch. What was that for?" I half hissed and whispered at the same time.

"Make some vines lock us in from the inside. I'll just set us on fire, and Ida will get us all soaked." It wasn't meant as a joke, she was totally serious.

"Oh, right."

I nodded my head, and started to twist my fingers in midair. Two vines showed up and twisted themselves to the inside of the closet door handles. We all stood as far back as we could as we heard the door of the camper being broken open. Ida, hating loud noises somewhat more than the rest of us, covered her ears. Catherine and I did the same as we heard our things being thrown around.

"Girls, we don't want to hurt you. This is the police; we have some news about your dads. They were hit by a train."

Ida mouthed, 'it's a lie. There are no train tracks out here; it's the middle of the desert.'

We both nodded at Ida to show her that we understood what she was trying to state.

"Chief, they're not stupid girls. They are, like what, fourteen years old. I think that they can figure out that there are no trains in the desert," another man whispered, but it was still hearable.

"What do you want to tell them then? Tell them the truth? Do you want to tell three fourteen year old girls that their dads were all just mugged and tortured to death? Tell them that the murder was supposedly looking for them? Do you want to be the one to tell them that?"

There was silence for a moment. I looked over to Ida to see that she had gone pail white. I mouthed 'are you going to be alright?' and she nodded at me, before mouthing the same thing. I nodded at her and turned to Catherine. Her face was already tearstained and her hands were shaking. Ida and I both knew what that meant. It meant that you don't want to be near Catherine when she had one of her episodes. My eyes went wide, and both Ida and I turned our faces away from Catherine, covering our faces as best we could.

"That's not true!" Catherine yelled.

And that was where it all started. Catherine lost it there. Her eyes turned red, and fire came out of her hands. She grabbed the vine that was keeping us locked in the, now burning, closet. The doors burst open and we all scrambled out. Ida and I gasped for air as smoke filled the camper. We were all picked up by somebody, and carried out of the burning camper. We were set down on the ground, only to be picked back up. Ida and I were still gasping, when we heard an explosion. We were then, once again, set down on the ground. I looked up to see that Ida was about three feet to my left, and Catherine was kicking and screaming some two feet farther than Ida.

"No, it's not true! They're not dead! They didn't die! You got the wrong people! Our dads will be back with a mechanic to fix our flat tire!" Catherine was screaming as she was set to the ground as well.

"Are you three alright?" said the man that had grabbed Catherine.

I shot up from the ground, fury obvious in my eyes. Ida looked away, smiling in spite of herself. She knew what was coming next. When Catherine gets mad, she tends to deny what she was mad about. Ida tends to punch the ground during her temper releases. Me on the other hand, I tend to scream at whatever was making me angry at the time. And let me tell you, when I get angry, my dad can't even hold me back with all of his strength.

"What do you think?! How would you feel if you just found out that your dad was hit by a train, and now you don't have any family, no place to stay because your home was just blown up, you have some crazy murderer after you, oh and did I mention that your out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by cops?! Do you think we're alright?! Would you be alright?! Because if you find one person on this Earth that can be happy and joyful at this situation, you let me know!" I gave a small shake when I was finished, knowing that I was lying when I said that our dads were hit by a train.

I was now standing face to face with the chief police officer. I was breathing hard, and my nails were digging into my palms. I turned around, and started to go back toward the camper. Somebody grabbed my arm and started to pull me backwards.

"Where are you going?" the chief asked.

"Hmm, let me see. I don't have a home to go to anymore, so I think that I'll go back to the place that used to be my home before it was blown to pieces. I need to get something out of it."

I started to walk away, and the chief was pulling with all his strength to keep me back. I did mention that when we get angry, we can all have the strength of two grown men, didn't I? Well we can, so the chief's struggles were worthless.

"Hold up little missy. We can't let some fourteen year old girl go back into a burning camper," he said.

That was what set Ida off. It wasn't the fact that he wouldn't let me go back. She knew what I was going back for; I always went back for it. It was the fact that he said he wouldn't let a _girl_ go back. She shot up from the ground and stormed to where I was frozen in place. If you make one of us angry, you might have a chance to still have a face after we get done, but to get two or three of us angry? Then you must have a death wish. Catherine had calmed herself down to a small sob. Ida was now right next to me. I smiled up at the chief. I knew what was going to happen. I knew Ida all too well.

"You have five seconds to let us go back to that camper as the kick butt _girls_ that we are, or your going to drop right here. With no pride at all. How would that look? Getting beaten by a fourteen year old _girl_?" Ida said, and I could see that her hands were in fists.

All of the police officers just laughed at us. Ida smiled and shrugged.

"I warned you."

With that she brought her knee up, right into the place where the sun doesn't shine. The whole group of officers when quiet when that happened. Was Ida done? No, I knew her better than that. She brought her left fist up into his stomach and her right into the side of his face. The chief toppled over in pain, and I took off.

Ida was the fastest, but Catherine wouldn't move, so she had to get her off the ground. I wasn't worried, why should I be? Our dads had told us, that if anything like this was to happen, that the one closest to the camper should be the one to go back, and save as much as they could. In this case, that person would be me. I looked back to see Catherine and Ida were not far behind me.

I took a deep breath and jumped into the still burning and manipulated camper. I squinted as I searched for what I was looking for. I climbed up to the second floor of the camper. I quickly put my hands under my pillow to the left, then under Catherine's in the center. I pulled out two books, that we had gotten made fire and water proof. I put Catherine's book on mine and grabbed the one under Ida's pillow to the far right. I jumped down from the bedroom above the camper and dashed out of the door. When I got out, I was hit by water.

I coughed. "What was that for?"

"Your leg was on fire, now come on," Ida said as she pulled both Catherine and I away from the burning camper.

The three of us dropped to the ground, as soon as we were in a spot that had fresh air. We all gasped, as if we were each trying to get all the oxygen from the air into our lungs. We were on our hands and knees with our heads bowed and eyes closed. We all had our books in front of us. I fell down and rolled over onto my back. I put my book on my stomach, as to make sure that if I stood, I would not leave it behind. Ida and Catherine did the same as me, and we all just breathed in deeply for a moment. Then the sun was blocked by shadows. I opened my eyes to see all of the police officers standing in a circle around us.

"You know you three, attacking a police officer and then running can be a crime," the chief said.

His voice was still a little squeaky, and I couldn't help but smile.

"You know officer, breaking into a home without permission, grabbing a girl by the arm and not letting her go home, _and_ then accusing her of doing a crime, can also be considered a crime. May I please see your warrant that said you were allowed into our home?"

I didn't look over to see Catherine's or Ida's expression. I knew them too well. I knew that they were smiling, and thinking that I was right. That was another reason we made such good friends. Ida was our muscle, Catherine was our strategy planer, and I always knew the loophole to any situation. We weren't doing to bad for being three fourteen year old girls with powers now were we? On a scale of one to five, I'd give us a three.

"Oh ha hah, miss smarty. You're forgetting that we saved your but from that fire," the chief smiled, obviously thinking that he won the argument. Think again.

"You're forgetting that we have legs. Maybe _you_ chief might remember. Or do you need Ida to remind you again what a girl can do? Besides, we just went into the fire, and then back out again." I smiled to myself.

"You have to come downtown with us still. You fathers are still dead, and you have nowhere else to go. We have to get your girls' information, and then maybe we can find you a nice foster home."

The chief motioned for some of the other officers to pick us up. That would not go over to well with us. Ida slapped the hand that was reaching for hers to help her up off the ground.

"We can walk you retards! See these things that are attached to our hips that help us move? Yah, those are called legs. They help you walk," Ida said as the three of us stood up.

Why argue with what they were saying. Sure there was a loophole to this situation. All I had to say was 'we have mothers, and you can't hold us at the station if there is nothing being pressed against us. We are more than allowed to stay at our home.' That was all I had to say. Ida had made water put out the camper when no one was looking, so we were technically allowed to stay at our own home. That and they gave us no proof that our fathers were dead. They had told us that they were hit by a train. We had overheard that they were mugged, and then murdered, all to save us from whoever had mugged them, but they didn't know that. We could state that they lied to us, just to get us to the station. But why go through all that trouble? We were all to tired to argue anymore anyhow. We all got to our feet, still holding our books.

"What are those?" the chief asked as he reached for my book.

"That would be none of your business. I could tell you that they had tampons in them, but what good would that do? That would be a lie, but it would get you to shut you big fat trap hole."

I smiled to myself as I held onto my photo album. This album had pictures of us all. And when I say all, I mean Ida, Robert, Sally, who was Ida's mom. There was Catherine, Chris, and Kayla, who was Catherine's mom. Then there was me, and my dad Parker, and my mom Dianna. All of our books were the same on the inside. It started with Catherine's family. Just the basic stuff, the wedding picture, her as a baby, birthdays, that sort of thing. Then there was my family, then Ida's. At the very end, there were pictures of us all together. These books had our memories in them. And none of us could bear to loose our memories. Not now when we needed them most of all, during the hard times.

_**Chapter Two:**_

_Boys_

We walked back to the remaining cop cars that weren't blown up during Catherine's little episode. The three of us climbed into the back seat of the car we were escorted to. You'll never guess whose car we got. Yep, the back of the chief police car. Lucky us right? Wrong. In fact, I'd say our luck was starting to turn on us at this point. We arrived at the station. Let me put it this way, for being out in the middle of nowhere, this town, of about five-hundred people, really do take their crime status seriously. It was sad to see three boys, our age maybe a year or two older, locked up in a cell. The boys looked up when we came in. They stared at us in our burned, ripped, and soaking wet clothes until we were led out of site.

'_Why were they staring at us like that? Like they haven't seen someone with ripped clothes before_,' I thought to myself.

"Sit, now," was all the chief said.

We all sat down on the floor. The chief sighed. Did he honestly think that he was going to get us to cooperate that easy? No, he was not. We were going to be as stubborn as we could be.

"What are your names?" he asked.

No response, so he tried a different one, "How old are you? Our best guess was that you were fourteen."

Again no response. He sighed. "Okay, have it your way. What are in those books? If you don't tell us, we will take them away."

He smiled like he had won. Yah right! I just smiled back at him. His smile faded, and he snapped his fingers. Three police officers that had been standing in the room started to walk toward us. I smiled to myself and 'twisted my hair' with my pointer finger. The plant that had been on the side counter suddenly grew, tripping the three men.

Ida and Catherine laughed, as they began to catch on. The men stood back up and started to walk our way once more. Ida 'sneezed' and the facets all turned on. This time Catherine and I laughed as all of the men fell to the ground once more. When the men stood back up, Catherine 'yawned' and though I couldn't see it, I knew that her breath was smoking hot. The fire alarms went off, and water began to fall over everybody in the room. The chief, still clueless like the rest of these losers, had the police officers bring us to a cell next to the one with the boys. Ida, Catherine, and I were all still laughing when they locked the doors.

"This will be even more interesting than I thought it would be!" I yelled, still laughing.

"I agree!" Ida yelled, also still laughing.

"So how long do you guys want to be in here before we brake open that wall," Catherine said.

Ida and I stopped laughing when she said that. We both ran over to her and put our hands over her mouth.

"Are you crazy?! Fourteen year old girls can't brake open a concrete wall! Well, not normal ones at least," Ida hissed.

I was hardly paying attention though. Those boys were staring at us again. I couldn't take it any longer. I had to know their names and what they were staring at. I got up and walked over to the bars that were separating us. One of the boys did the same thing. He had messy black hair and brown eyes. I extended my hand our through the bars, and he took it, hard I might add.

"Hello, I'm Alex, meaning defender of mankind. And you are?" I asked the amazingly handsome boy. I don't know why I said the meaning of my name, but I had a nagging feeling that I should.

The boy smirked. "Nice to meet you Alex. I'm Demetrius, meaning lover of the earth. The brown haired one is my younger brother Bj, meaning defeating water, and the one with the blonde hair is my youngest younger brother Kenneth, meaning born of fire."

Ida and Catherine walked over just as Bj and Kenneth did so.

"I'm Ida, meaning hardworking," Ida outstretched her hand, and Bj took it.

"And I'm Catherine, meaning pure," Kenneth took her hand and shook it.

"So what are you guys in for?" Demetrius asked me as we walked along the bars to the other end of the cell.

I noticed that Ida and Bj did the same, only to the other side. Catherine and Kenneth stayed in the center of the cell. I shrugged.

"We don't really know. Apparently some guys wants us dead, and we don't know why, and they think we do know. And what about you? How long have you been in here?"

Demetrius smiled a wicked grin at me. It made butterflies grow in my stomach. I mentally scolded myself for it as he answered my question.

"Yesterday. We were about to be in that room, that is until they got a call about some three guys getting mugged then murdered over the murderer wanting the guys daughters. Totally bogus." He rolled his eyes.

_**Chapter Three**_

_The Brake Out_

I talked with Demetrius for what must have been hours, because the lights were shut off on us later. I pouted, knowing that Ida, Catherine, and I were going to break out tonight. Then an idea hit me. I smiled to myself. Who said that only Catherine could only come up with a good plan? When we thought that the boys were asleep, Catherine started to melt the wall with her fire. How dumb do they think we are? Okay, so they didn't know that we had super natural powers, but that wasn't the point. The point was that if you get something hot enough, what happens? It melts down into just a pool of really hot liquid. So while Catherine was doing that I decided to voice my opinion.

"You guys, I think we should take the boys with us. It wouldn't hurt to have some company other than ourselves, and we all know that we like them. We can't just let them rot in jail."

It was completely dark in the police station. All but for the huge hole that was now just forming in the wall, where some light was coming in from. I didn't need the light to know that they were smiling. They wanted the same thing.

"How are we going to get them out? I am not burning another hole in the wall. This is taking a lot of energy, and a lot of time," Catherine whispered.

"You won't have to. When you are done, come over here and melt just the bottom of about three bars. Then Ida and I can bend the bars apart so they stick out. Then we can go and get the boys up."

I smiled at myself. I knew that I wasn't the smartest of us all, but I had my moments. When Catherine was finished, she did as I had asked her. Ida and I had to work hard to bend the bars without making any noise. When we did that, we all walked into the boys' cell. I shook Demetrius' shoulder.

"Hey sleepy, want to get some fresh air?" I said, not bothering to be quiet anymore, and neither were Ida, Catherine, and the boys. Demetrius jumped up off of his bed.

"How the hell did you get in here?!" he yelled, looking into my eyes.

"Through the bars. So do you guys want to ditch this pop-stand or what? We have a hole in the wall on our side."

All of the boys' eyes went wide and their mouths dropped. Now none of us were really patient, so we could only take so much silence at one time.

"Are you guys coming, or do we have to let you rot here in this stupid town?" Ida finally asked.

"It's all up to Demetrius. He calls the shots. He is the oldest after all," Kenneth said.

"That shouldn't matter. I'm the oldest, and we all call the shots. Alex was calling the shots tonight, and the other day I was calling the shots in our training," Catherine slapped her hand over her mouth. She had said too much.

"Training? What do you train in?" Demetrius asked with true interest.

"Uh, um, uh…" Ida stumbled for something to say.

Well, Ida was at a loss for words, and Catherine was still to horrified think up something to say right now.

'_Come on Alex, think! Think up a lie that they will believe, not make you look like an idiot, and impress Demetrius all at the same time…. Is there even such a lie?!_' I thought to myself angrily.

"Our self-defense training. It was Catherine's turn to pick the situation in which we had to defend ourselves," I didn't lie. It was the truth, just not all of it. I mentally patted myself on the back.

Demetrius' eyes lit up, but maybe it was just my eyes playing a trick on me. A wicked grin crept across his face, and I didn't want to know what twisted thought was going though his mind. When we were talking before, I found out that the boys were all one year apart from the other. Demetrius is fifteen, Bj is fourteen, and Kenneth is thirteen. The last thing that I should be thinking about right now is boys, so Catherine and Ida knew right away that they should say something to save me from my thoughts.

"So are you guys coming with us or not?" Ida asked a hint of impatience in her voice.

Bj and Kenneth both looked at Demetrius. He however, was looking straight at my face. His melted chocolate eyes holding mine captive.

'_Dang it! Why did he have to be so dang cute and mysterious?!_' I asked myself, just as he gave that wicked, lopsided grin again.

I could feel my heart skip a beat, before speeding up. I was surprised that no one could hear it. What I truly wanted to know was why I suddenly had the urge to give him a hug and beg him to tell his brothers that they were coming with us. I was just about to do so, when Demetrius saved me from humiliating myself.

"My brothers are free to speak for themselves, but I would like to accompany you," he said, eyes still locked with mine.

"What do you say Kenneth, Bj?" Catherine asked the other two boys.

"Please," was Kenneth's response, soft, almost a whisper.

"Woo-hoot! Road trip!" Bj yelled, just as Ida crushed his spirits.

"Yah, on foot. None of us are old enough to drive yet."

Bj shrugged and said, "Better than sitting in a jail cell."

Ida and Bj laughed just as Catherine and Kenneth blushed a deep magenta. I, however, was paying no attention to the others that were standing by me. My eyes were still held captive by Demetrius', and could not look away.

The others just gawked at us when he stated to walk toward the broken bars, guiding me the whole way. He helped me out of the hole in the wall, our eyes never loosing contact. Kenneth and Bj helped Catherine and Ida threw the hole after us. I was finally released from my trance when Demetrius gave a small smirk and looked around outside. I shook my head, my mind going back to normal. Then I saw the faces of everyone else around me. They all had that stunned look on their faces. I was about to ask what stupid thing I said, when Bj spoke.

"So, where are we going now?" he asked.

"Back to the camper to see if anything survived the explosion," Ida said calmly.

"What explosion?" Kenneth asked.

"Our gas tank exploded on us, no big deal. It happens to us all the time," Catherine said, waving off the conversation.

"This way then," Ida said, walking forward.

_**Chapter Four:**_

_Realization_

We walked to the trailer, and the door was still open. It shouldn't have surprised us so badly when a raccoon came out. Catherine, Ida, and I all jumped when it came over our feet. The boys just stepped out of the way and continued forward. From behind me, I heard Demetrius smirk. It took all my will power not to do one of two things. One, step away, and two, turn around and hit him in the arm.

"Nice place," he said, looking at the camper's destroyed contents.

"Hey, it's not our fault if the police trashed the place," Ida said, defending our home.

"And the explosion with the gas tank helped out with this mess too," Bj said from behind Ida.

I just nodded, it wasn't a lie. It was the gas tank, with the help of Catherine. I immediately started to walk toward the latter that went up to the second floor girl's bedroom. Everyone else followed me, so I stopped and turned around.

"Boys, we have to go change, so you can borrow some of our dads' clothes. They are under the beds to your left, behind the door that leads to the extension."

With that, I headed up the latter, Catherine and Ida both behind me. I was already pulling off my shoes when I thought of something.

"Who takes first shower?" I asked.

"You go first, Ida can create her own, and I can heat mine. You can only give yourself a seaweed wrap," The last part was meant as a joke, so I decided to play along.

"Oh, ha hah," I said with a smile.

I made an 'innocent' reach for a towel and fresh pajamas. Vines shot up and twisted around Catherine. I smiled and laughed with Ida.

"What were you saying Catherine?" Ida asked, sitting on the floor laughing at Catherine's face.

"Yah, yah. Just go take your stupid shower."

I let my vines fall, as I picked up my towel and clean pajamas. I went down the latter and crossed to the back where the shower room was right next to the bathroom. I had to close my eyes, because the boys were changing. They had pants on still, but they were all in the middle of taking off their shirts. I blushed like crazy and gave my apologies. I scurried into the shower. I don't really take long in the shower, so I was in maybe five minuets. I was about to leave, when I realized that I forgot to put my pajama bottoms on.

'_That would have been bad,_' I thought as I quickly pulled them on.

The long black bottoms matched my short black tank top, I realized as I gave myself a once over. Once I was positive that I had everything on, I left the shower room.

"Ida!" I yelled. She knew that she had next shower, so I didn't have to say anything more.

"Okay, coming!"

Then she was right there next to me. She jumped from the landing above, without using the latter. You would think that I would be used to that by now. But I wasn't, so I still jumped when she landed by me. She smiled and closed the shower room door. I climbed back up the latter to see Catherine playing with her fire.

"Stop that, what if they see, or you light something else on fire?" I whispered.

"Sorry, I forgot. I'm not used to being at home and having to hide it you know."

"It's an adjustment for us all," I said, sitting down on my bed and looking at my album.

Catherine started to do the same thing, and soon we were both tear stained and puffy eyed.

"Catherine!" Ida called up.

Catherine got up, wiped her eyes, and grabbed her towel and pajamas, before descending the latter. Ida came up, and sat next to me.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yah, I'm fine."

"They're not dead you know," she whispered.

I shot my head up with surprise. Ida had been looking at the picture of our three dads all together.

"What do you mean they are not dead? The officer said-" I was cut off by Ida.

"Then why was there no crime scene? We had to travel threw the entire town to reach the station, and not one police car was out on the streets, not one curious pedestrian out to see the dead bodies."

She was right. Even with all the sorrow, and all of the frustration, Ida was still able to keep an eye out. That was one thing that we all loved about Ida. In times of crises, she was calm and alert. How could Catherine and I miss such vivid details? Just then Catherine came up the later. She sat down on her bed, and we all laughed, when we saw that we had all put on our best pajamas.

"Can you guys believe that we have three cute boys just below us right now?" Ida asked.

"No, you have three cute boys standing behind you, about to ask where the bathroom is," came Bj's voice from behind us.

We all blushed at what Ida said, before turning around to see that the boys were standing there. Kenneth was blushing, Bj had a wide smile on his face, and Demetrius was smirking.

"T-the door on the left at the end of the hall," Catherine stuttered.

"Thank you," Kenneth whispered.

"And the shower must be the other one, am I right?" Bj asked.

"Yep!" Ida was still blushing, but she didn't loose her energy.

"If it is alright with you girls, we would like to use the shower in the morning," Demetrius said in his deep and mysterious voice.

'_How the heck does he do that mysterious thing?_' I thought, but what I said was, "That will be just fine."

The boys nodded and descended that latter. When they were gone, Catherine and I both smacked Ida on the arm.

"Watch what you say next time!" we both hissed.

"Sorry, and don't hit me. I could see that you two were thinking the same thing."

"Yah, but _we_ didn't say it when they were standing behind us," Catherine said, lying down on her bed.

Ida and I both did the same, and closed our eyes. About ten minuets later, I knew that Catherine and Ida were also both awake. But none of us did anything when we heard the creak of the floorboard below us, followed by the steps of the latter. I knew that the boys were standing there looking at us. The only question was why they were standing there looking at us. After about five more minuets I couldn't take it. I didn't open my eyes, but I did speak.

"How long do you guys plan on standing there watching us as we pretend to sleep?"

At the same time, as if we planed it, Catherine, Ida, and me all sat straight up to look at the boys. The boys' eyes were wide, and their faces all a deep red.

"We were just going to ask you girls what you wanted for breakfast, but you were sleeping," Bj said in an awkward voice.

"Hmm, nice try, but that doesn't explain why you were all staring at us for five minuets," I said.

The boys all blushed deeper, causing Catherine, Ida, and I all to smile.

"You all just looked so cute in your sleep," Bj and Kenneth whispered, causing them to go yet another shade deeper in red.

"You guys should get some sleep, and we have breakfast covered in the morning. Our dads never were great cooks, so we always made breakfast," Catherine said, as we too started to blush.

The boys nodded and scurried down the latter. When they were gone once again, I couldn't hold it back. I started to laugh quietly. I knew that they couldn't hear me, because I could barely hear myself. Catherine and Ida both joined in on the silent laughter, and that was how we fell asleep. That was how we fell asleep most nights really. Some people cry themselves to sleep, others take a pill. We laugh till we are too tired to laugh anymore.

_**Chapter Five:**_

_The Note_

The three of us awoke early that next morning. We all got dressed; better than we would have if it was just our dads that we were serving this morning I might add. We all put on our black jeans and a button up shirt. Mine was a dark green, Ida's a honey white, and Catherine's a light blue. When we descended the latter and reached the bottom, Catherine and Ida both looked at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Alex, we all know that you're the one who always cooks breakfast. I just light the stove or oven, and Ida gets out the ingredients as you ask for them. Then our dads always did the dishes. You have to make breakfast," Catherine said in a whisper.

"I know I was planning in doing that anyways. Did you really think that I was going to let you say what great cooks we all were, then let you two do the cooking all by yourselves? Come on Catherine, you know me better than that."

"Thanks Alex," Ida and Catherine both sighed.

"No problem."

I walked over to the cupboard above the stove and took out the cook book. I flipped to the tab that said breakfast, and skimmed the recipes. I came across one that said English breakfast. That sounded good to me, and it had a lot of food, so the boys could eat as much as they wanted.

"Ida, I need eggs, bacon, sausage, black pudding mix, or if we already have some made that would be good. I also need mushrooms, tomatoes, beans, and bread slices."

"Holy dang Alex. What are you making?" Ida said as she got what I had asked.

"Yah, it sounds good." Catherine said as she set the table.

"It does sound good, but I was referring to how much food that was," Ida said.

"English breakfast. That way the boys can see what good cooks we are and still get all the food they need to function," I said as I began to toast the mushrooms.

"You mean what a good cook _you_ are. Catherine and I are just doing the non-food related stuff," Ida said as she got out the glasses and began to fill them with apple juice.

"No, I'm going to give you both credits as well. It would make you two look bad if I got all the credit."

"You deserve all the credit Alex. That's a lot of food to prepare," Catherine said as she folded the napkins.

So I worked, and tried to convince them that they should have some credit as well. I gave up when Catherine threatened to light my hair on fire and Ida said that she wouldn't put it out. That wasn't fare, but life itself wasn't fare. When I was done with the scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, sausage, making the black pudding from scratch because we didn't have the mix. Frying the mushrooms and the tomatoes, baking the beans, and frying the bread slices, it was ten o'clock. Ida and Catherine both brought me the plates and I dished everyone up. They then brought me eight more plates to put the rest of the food on, and set those on the counter. We all then walked over to the door that led to the extension that was our dads' room and pounded on the door.

"Breakfast is ready! Hope you have a big appetite!" we all called at the same time, because that was what we always did to our dads when we would make a big breakfast and they would still be sleeping.

We heard some shuffling as the boys got out of bed and walked toward the door. Demetrius opened the door and he was followed out by Bj then Kenneth.

"Good morning sleepyheads. Hope your hungry," we all said at the same time.

"Now that was freaky. How do you girls do that kind of thing?" Bj asked as they all stood in the door way.

"Do what? The voice thing? We have had a lot of practice. We did this to our fathers every morning," we all said in unison, causing the boys' eyes to go wide again.

"So, what's for breakfast?" Kenneth asked.

"Yah, I'm starving," Bj said as he rubbed his stomach.

"Smells good whatever it is," Demetrius commented.

"_Alex_ made everyone an old fashioned English breakfast. She tried to get Ida and me to take some credit, but she deserves it. It took her all morning to make," Catherine said with a smile.

"Thanks Catherine," I said sarcastically.

"No problem," she gave me a wide smile.

"Not to be rude, but what _is_ an old fashioned English breakfast?" Bj asked.

"Come and see, and there is more if you want more," Ida said as we all walked over to the table.

The boys' eyes went so wide, that I thought their eyes were going to come out of their sockets. I couldn't help it, it made me smile when they all started to eat and they said that it was delicious. When we were done, Catherine got out six lunchboxes, Ida got out three suitcases for the boys, and I got out three for us.

"What are you girls doing?" Kenneth asked.

"Well, we need food to function, and so do you. Then, unless you want to wear the same clothes for however long it takes us to find our dads, you'll need fresh clothes. Ida, Alex, and I all like clean clothes, so we'll pack our clothes before we pack the lunchboxes," Catherine said as she walked with Ida and me to the latter.

Catherine went up first, then Ida, and finally me. We may have only had knapsacks, but you can fit a lot into those. I packed as much clothes as I could find of mine, hair brush, deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste, and my album. That was what I could find with a once over of the room. The boys would have more room in the wheeling suitcases, so they could have the soap, towels, and washcloths. I was the first one done, so I went down, with my knapsack, to get six fresh towels and washcloths, as well as two bars of soap. When I had those, I handed them to Demetrius. He looked puzzled, so I explained.

"Staying clean is very important, so whoever has extra room, can put these in with their stuff."

"Right. How much do we need to pack?"

I shrugged. "Whatever you can fit."

Catherine and Ida both came down, and stood next to me. I knew what we needed, and so did they. We went to the squeaky floorboard and pried it up.

"What are you doing?" Bj asked, as he entered from the dads' room.

"We need money right? This is where we kept our collage savings," Ida explained.

The boys frowned as we took out three safes, which were marked with an A, C, and I, and took out quite a bit of cash. Not all of it, but enough.

"You don't need to go into your collage savings," Kenneth whispered.

"Our dads always had the money for things with them, so we don't have anything but our savings," Catherine said as she tucked away her cash into her wallet, then into the center of her knapsack.

"I'm sure we can make due with what we have here," Demetrius stated.

"No tent, no sleeping bags, no way to clean our clothes. Then we'll need food, the lunchboxes can only hold so much," I said as I too put my cash into my wallet, before putting it deep into my back pocket, then buttoning the pocket.

I grabbed the six lunchboxes from the table, and brought them to the counter. I opened the cupboards and took out all the food that didn't need to be heated or refrigerated. That didn't leave us with much, because I love to cook, so we always bought food that needed to be prepared. Still, I did manage to fill the boys' with a lot. Ida, Catherine, and I all had our 'special diets'. Catherine needed spicy foods. You know, like peppers. Ida needed, well, mainly liquid foods like broths and such. I needed leafy foods, like lettuce. So, that was what I packed us. Ida's lunchbox was filled with thermoses, Catherine's with containers of red and jalapeño peppers, and mine with containers of lettuce.

As Bj pointed first at Catherine, then Ida, and then me, he said, "Spicy, watery, and leafy. But you packed us a variety of foods. Why is that?"

"Our dads always made sure that this is what we ate. Alex would cook for our dads, and then we would eat our meals. This morning was the first day, since the 'only on special occasions' rules, that we have really eaten what Alex made." Catherine said, and then continued, "It all started when we were around six or seven. This has always been our diet."

'_With good reason. Without it, our powers aren't fully 'charged'._' I thought.

For the rest of the morning, and most of the afternoon, we made preparations for the trip. When we were ready, we headed out to find the next closest town to buy a tent and some sleeping bags. I was closing the camper door behind me, when I saw a note attached to the handle. I plucked it off, and read it over in my head, before gasping. This was either a really bad, or really good thing.

"Uh, guys. I think you should listen to this note that was attached to the handle," I said.

I waited for everyone to listen, before reading out loud the note in swishy handwriting.

"Girls,

I know what you are and what you are capable of. That is why I will wait till you drop your guard. Your dads are all fine, but I want something. I'm not going to tell you now, but in two days, be at the old construction site in the next town over to the East. There will be something there for you. I'll be watching your every move,

The Watcher"

"That bas-" Demetrius started, but I cut him off.

"Demetrius! Watch your language! We do not swear!"

"You have a better name?" he asked, somewhere between pissed and an apology.

"Yah, try stalker."

**Chapter Six:**

_Search_

After that Catherine had a meltdown. No, I don't mean that she exploded, I'm talking about tears. Ida tried to calm her down, but it was Kenneth who got her to stop. We walked to the next town to the East, where the letter had told us to be, and thankfully it wasn't too far. In fact, it was only a few miles out of town. A town that is known for its violence. Great. So, there we bought our tent and sleeping bags, with the built in pillows I might add. We found some open field, and set up the tent. Or rather the guys set up the tent. We started a fire 'with two sticks' for us to stay warm. The boys did ask us how we got it started so fast, and we all just shrugged. We were all just sitting by the fire, each of us roasting two marshmallows, because that was all we had, when Demetrius spoke, breaking the silence.

"I noticed that the note said 'what you are' and 'you are capable of' and I was wondering what that meant exactly."

'_Oh shi-dang! But, how was I supposed to answer that? The 'keep your cover' thing is not easy when you get a question like that._' I thought with despair.

"Self defense," I said as Ida yelled, "Combat." and Catherine said, "Karate."

We all turned to each other as we all said different things. Then Catherine turned back and spoke with uncertainty.

"Uh, our self defense helps us with our karate in combat if we would ever need it."

Demetrius' eyes narrowed, Kenneth raised a single eyebrow, and Bj just started laughing. Catherine, Ida, and I all gazed worriedly at the boys.

"Tell the truth. That is the biggest, and the worst lie, I have ever heard. That and you never answered my first question of what the letter meant when it said 'what you are'. Now spill," Demetrius said unhappily.

Catherine, Ida, and I all sighed. We all sat there for a moment, thinking of what to say. Then Ida spoke.

"Who do you want to answer the question?"

Demetrius thought for a moment, and then a small smile spread across his face. "How about you go into the tent and tell Bj the answer to my questions, Catherine can talk to Kenneth right here, and Alex and I can talk over to the right a bit. That way, if you tell us all something different, we will know that you are lying."

"Well, I guess that we better tell them the truth then shouldn't we?" Catherine said.

"Yah, let's tell them the story of us at the age of three, why we move around so much, why we have no friends, and what we really train in," Ida said as we all got up except for Catherine and Kenneth.

"Sounds good to me. And when they decide to leave us to find our dads by ourselves, which is what we will do. We'll find them by ourselves," I declared to my two best friends.

Kenneth spoke very quietly, but I still caught what he said, "Who said we were going anywhere?"

"Yah, I mean, it's not like you'll all turn out to have some superhuman powers, and you were destined to be the guardians of Earth, or anything," Bj laughed.

Before we disbanded, Catherine spoke up. "We will tell you this on one condition, you all tell us something that is embarrassing to you. Then we get to ask your brothers if it is true. Deal?"

Before Kenneth or Bj got to object, Demetrius spoke with finality. "Deal."

'_That seams fare enough to me._' I thought, as I walked with Demetrius. _'Blackmail if they tell.'_

When we reached the spot he had pointed to earlier, he leaned against a tree. We were grateful that we were out of the desert. I sat on the ground, but it made me fell short, so I stood back up.

"Okay, let's start with the story of Catherine, Ida, and I on our third birthday," I said, taking a deep breath.

I told Demetrius the story, and when I got to the part where we all got our powers, he just nodded his head, careful not to show any facial expression. I took a deep breath and continued again. When that was over, he spoke.

"I see why you move around so much, but why don't you have any friends if you don't show your powers?"

"If we get angry…" I didn't know how to finish the sentence.

"Oh, I see. Yah, which would be bad. What do you really train in?"

"Using our powers, control, aim, that kind of stuff." I shrugged, happy that he wasn't freaking on me. Then I added, "But I wasn't lying when I said self defense back when we were at the jail."

In the background I heard Bj yelling, "That is so sweet! I was just kidding when I said that you were going to have powers! That is just so cool!"

I laughed. '_He really is perfect for Ida. They both take life as if it were a game_.' I thought.

"They would make a cute couple, Ida and Bj," Demetrius said.

"Yah, I was just thinking that. So would Catherine and Kenneth."

I was watching as Kenneth kissed Catherine, and turned away. It really wasn't nice to look at

someone when they kiss. Though I would ask her about it later. I turned to look at the tent, just to see Bj kiss Ida. What was with all the kissing? That was when Demetrius spoke.

"You know what I was just thinking?"

I turned to look at him, and when I was just about to ask what he was just thinking, he kissed me. I was shocked at first, but then I realized what he was doing. He was kissing me! Self-concisely, my arms linked behind his neck, just as his arms pulled me into a hug. They say that you never forget your first kiss, and now I know why. His body may be muscular, but his lips were soft. When he pulled away, he was smiling. Then he laughed.

"What?"

"You look shocked that I kissed you," he said.

"I was shocked. We were talking, and then you asked a question, then you kissed me. I was caught off guard."

"What did you think my brothers and I were doing last night? We were talking, so we slept late. I suggested that tonight we kissed you girls, after Kenneth had said that he liked your friend Catherine, and Bj said that he liked Ida."

"And what about me?" I asked playfully, as I looked over to see Catherine blushing and Ida in full out shock.

Demetrius laughed. "I said that it was good that they liked your friends, because I liked you."  
That triggered my blush. "You really like me?"

Demetrius snorted. "Would I kiss you if I didn't like you?"

"Well, no, but your forgetting the 'I'm a freak' part," I said frowning.

"You not a freak, you're perfect just the way you are, Alex."

That was when I realized that we were still hugging. We must have looked like quite the pair. We both had black hair, but he was at least five nine to five eleven. And here I am, only standing five three.

"Demetrius, I think that you should tell me your embarrassing thing, and then we should get back to the others."

"Alright, let me see…"

'_Still hugging! He can let go now! Not that I object to the situation that is._' I thought to myself.

"Uh, Demetrius? I think that we can let go now."

"No, I don't think that we can," he said with a smile.

"Have it your way."

I then tried to pull away, but it didn't work. He was stronger that me! How was that even possible? I had the strength of two grown men, and I couldn't even pull out of a hug!

"How about I tell you a fact, and the embarrassing thing. Does that work?"

"Yes, that is just fine," I said, still trying to get out of the hug.

"Bj, Kenneth, and I all have powers as well."

At what he said, I stopped struggling to stare up at him. So that was why he didn't freak out on me, and that I was stuck in this hug!

"What powers do you guys have?" I asked bewildered.

"Bj can control ice, Kenneth fire, and I can control earth as well, but mine is somewhat different than yours," he said with that lopsided grin that I fell head-over-heals for.

"What do you mean by 'different'?"

"I can control stone and sand. They run together, I can make my stone into sand, or the sand into stone."

Then I realized something. "Demetrius, lover of the Earth, and you have sand and stone. Bj, defeating water, and he have ice. Kenneth, born of fire, and he has fire just like Catherine."

"Well, that's ironic. That would have been weird if Kenneth got you, Bj got Ida, and I got Catherine."

"I'm glad I got you, Ida got Bj, and Catherine got Kenneth, but could you please release me? This is just a little bit awkward for me. I'm sorry."

Demetrius smiled and let me go, sort of. He had his arm around my shoulders. That was fine with me. Just not the full out body squish.

"Now what about that embarrassing thing that you were going to tell me?" I asked.

"Don't laugh at this alright?"

"I'll try."

"I want to go to an English privet school with uniforms to be a romance writer."

I couldn't help it, I laughed. Then I heard Ida doing her snorting laugh from the tent, and Catherine's 'I'm sorry I can't help it' laugh. The boys must have all told us their embarrassing thing at the same time.

"You said that you wouldn't laugh at me," Demetrius said, as we walked back to the fire.

"No, I said that I would try," I corrected with a grin.

When we sat down, Kenneth was holding Catherine's hand uncertainly, Bj had his arm around Ida's shoulder like they were best buds and Demetrius had my head on his shoulder. We all looked like silly teens in love with the other silly teen in love.

'_And that is what we are._' I realized. '_Teens in love._ _Though 'love' might be a strong word. All I know is that I _really_ like Demetrius._'

"Let's start with the youngest shall we?" Ida said grinning at Catherine and Kenneth.

"Kenneth was obsessed with Britney Spears when he was little," Catherine said, looking at Bj and Demetrius for a yes or no.

"Yah, he even had a poster of her in his room," Demetrius said.

"Yep! That was so hilarious when he would walk around the house singing her lyrics," Bj stated.

Ida and I were trying to hold it in, but failed at that. We burst into laughter with the boys.

"What about Bj?" Catherine said, once she was done laughing.

Ida smiled and said, "His name isn't Bj. His name is Abjit."

That one Catherine and I didn't even attempt to hold back. His name was just too funny.

"What about Demetrius? Let me guess, he can only bench a twice his weight? What a shame, you know, because a normal man can only bench a one-thirty," Bj said, obviously his brother worked out a lot, and it showed

"No, he wants to go to a uniform required privet school so he can be a romance writer," I stated.

Bj and Kenneth burst into laughter. Demetrius growled and spat, "If you want to keep those lungs in your body, I suggest you stop laughing."

Everyone stopped at once, and I hit him in the chest.

"That wasn't nice, now say you're sorry."

Demetrius stared at me, so I added, "That is, if you want to be able to talk in the future. It really is your choice."

"She will do it to. Our dads were getting mugged one day when we came out of a store, and she gave the guys the choice to let them go or to walk away with broken limbs. They chose the broken limbs, so Ida and I helped her brake the guys' arms," Catherine stated, and Ida nodded in agreement.

"Say sorry," I said with a smile.

Bj and Kenneth were holding back laughter when he said, "I'm sorry Abjit, Britney." he smiled at his joke, and I rolled my eyes.

Catherine and Ida broke into laughter, and it is very hard for me to hold back my own laughter when the other two are laughing. So, as hard as I may try, I burst out laughing as well. The boys all glared at us with wry amusement. That is until Ida did her signature snorting laugh. That made the boys joins us in our uncontrollable laughing fest.

We laughed and laughed until Catherine and I both got the hiccups. Then I crossed my arms, and bounced up slightly, as each silent hiccup came. Catherine was not as lucky as me to have silent hiccups. Hers aren't loud, but not silent either. Ida pulled out two thermoses, and filled the tops with water, that she then handed to Catherine and me to drink. We both gratefully accepted the peace offering. Meaning that if we didn't comment about her laugh, then she wouldn't bring up the hiccup scenario again.

The boys were all still holding back laughter when we all calmed down, and both Catherine and I had drained the lids of the cold water that was so graciously provided by Ida. I could tell that the boys were using all of their will power not to laugh, and I could also tell that Catherine, Ida, and I were all thinking the same thing.

"Oh, shut up," we all said in a mocking tone.

That sent them over the edge. The three boys all fell over the logs that I had provided earlier, when the boys weren't looking, onto their backs laughing. That just sent the rest of us into another fit of laughter, and we too, fell over the backs of our logs onto the cold, hard ground.

When we were all done, we rolled out our sleeping bags, and crawled in. That night, I slept the best I have in who knows how long. And it was all thanks to the fact that I now knew that Demetrius liked me for me, not the girl that sprung him from the jail cell with no powers, but the girl laying on the ground in a sleeping bag in search for her father with the freaky powers. That it is me, and me alone that made him like me. He even proved it with a kiss. That same kiss was in my dreams that night. It was like an instant replay in my mind. I could even feel his soft lips on mine, and then I realized that I was almost awake, and just haven't opened my eyes yet. My eyes popped open with a start, and I shot into a sitting position. Catherine and Ida had done the same thing I saw when I looked around. It was Bj who spoke first, breaking the awkward silence.

"We thought that we should wake you, and didn't know the best way," he shrugged, "So, we thought that you girls might want to wake up to a tender kiss on the lips, and a boyfriend's face for you to see."

Catherine, Ida, and I were all taken aback by what he said, so we all blurt out in unison, "Boyfriend?"

Then we all threw our arms around the boys' necks, bringing them into a tight embrace. It was their tern to be taken aback, but quickly recovered, and hugged us back. When we all released, Catherine and Kenneth were as red as an apple, Bj and Ida were laughing, and Demetrius and I had our eyes locked once more.

'_I finally have my first boyfriend_.' I thought happily, and then thought more grimly, '_Dad is going to have a fit, talk to Demetrius, and ask all of those embarrassing questions. Not to mention if we stay together till we are eighteen, dad will want to have __the__ talk with Demetrius. Oh joy!_'

Then I noticed that every pair of eyes was on me, all looking thought full. It made me somewhat uncomfortable.

"Why are you all looking at me like that for?" I asked uncomfortably.

"You had that 'I just thought of something and don't like it' look on your face. Alex, what's wrong," Catherine asked me with a concerned look on her face.

"Nothing is wrong," right after I said it, a chill ran down my spine, and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Are you cold?" Demetrius asked.

Ida laughed. "No, she isn't cold. She always shivers when she has to lie, or tries to."

"So, Alex, you can stop pretending and tell us what is wrong," Catherine said.

I shifted uncomfortably. "I'd rather only tell you and Ida. In the tent?"

Bj looked confused, but then perked up. "Oh, is it your time?"

Every ones eyes widened, and turned his way. Then Ida, Catherine, and I all yelled, "No! What is wrong with you?" Then Ida hit him in the back of the head.

"Ouch. Okay, I get it. Wrong situation," he said as he rubbed the back of his head.

I stood, Catherine and Ida both following, and went into the tent that none of us wanted to use, because we all wanted to spend the one nice night outside. When we got inside, they both rounded on me.

"So, what is it?" Ida prompted.

"What do you guys think will happen when we find our dads, then when we all turn eighteen?" I asked them, and knew that they understood what I was trying to say.

They both gowned in unison. Then we heard another "Ouch" from outside, and I guessed that Kenneth and Demetrius both smacked Bj on the head or arm, and I couldn't help but smile along with Catherine and Ida.

We packed everything up, and headed out into the town. We had set up camp in the forest on the outskirts of town. I took out a piece of lettuce, and bit into it. Catherine was eating a pepper, Ida drinking her broth, and the boys were all eating a strawberry pop tart. Without noticing, we walked into a café. We all headed for the bathrooms, to use and get changed. When we were done, we decided to sit, order some apple juice, and plan our next move.

"What can I get you kids?" a waitress with curly brown hair asked.

"Six apple juices, please," Catherine said.

"Will that be all?"

"Yes, thank you."

When she was gone, Bj asked, "So, how are we going to find your dads?"

Ida shrugs, "Not really, we were just going to kind of do what the note said."

Bj whistled through his teeth. "So, that's it? Just do what the note says?"

Ida nods, "Yep, that's it."

"Well, what if it tells us to fight to the death, or something? Do we do what it says?"

I decided to join in the conversation, "Well, we would win. There are six of us."

Bj looks at me and says, "Um, I was talking about guys' verses girls."

There was a silence, and then Catherine said lightly, "We'd totally beat you guys."

Kenneth stands up and throws his arms out to his sides, and with a smile on his face says, "You wan'a go? Huh?"

Catherine smiles and stands up, just a little smaller than him. Her hands were on the table, leaning towards him. "Gladly. Anytime, anywhere."

Bj stands up and points to the door, nearly tipping over the table. "To the alley!" He then marched right out the door of the café. I pulled out my wallet, shaking my head and put some money on the table for the apple juice, then left the café with the others.

I enter the alley with Demetrius right behind me. He put his hand on my shoulder in a protective manner. I turned my head, and craned my neck to look up at him. After all, he is five foot nine inches, and I stand only five foot three inches. He has a good six inches on me.

"What are you doing? Did you think I was going to join their fight?" I asked mockingly.

Demetrius smirked, "No, I'm just getting ready for when Kenneth misses."

My whole body tensed. "H-he wouldn't miss, would he?" I paused, and then added, "But he won't hit Catherine either. She's too fast."

Just then, Kenneth launches, or rather shoots, fire out of his finger tips. It reminded me of a pistol, only with fire and not bullets. Catherine launched herself into the air, Kenneth's fire just mere inches from the bottom of her foot. She did a flip and landed behind Kenneth.

"You missed!" Catherine sang happily.

Over to my left, I could hear Ida and Bj both cheering.

"Yah! Go Catherine! Kick his butt!" Ida cheered through cupped hands, as if they were a megaphone.

"Come on Kenneth! You have better aim than that! Don't go easy on her just because she's a girl and you think she's cute! Come on!" Bj was yelling.

I laughed and shook my head. Then all laughing, yelling, cheering, and fighting stopped when we herd someone behind us yell out, "Holy crap!" Followed by a deadening silence.

We all turn in sudden shock and fear. Bj stood right next to Ida, as if they were ready to face whatever we were going to face together. Kenneth stood halfway in front of Catherine with one arm out crossing the front of her, as if he were trying to say 'I'll handle this if you would like me to, but I know that you can handle yourself.' Demetrius, always having to be the 'man', stood completely in front of me. It was a very sweet gesture, and somewhat insulting at the same time. Did he think I couldn't handle myself, or did he not want to take a risk? Like I said, sweet and insulting in the same gesture.

I tapped Demetrius on the back of his shoulder. He didn't even turn to look at me as he whispered, lips barely moving, "What?"

For some reason, because Demetrius had whispered, I suddenly whispered my answer. "You do know that I am more than capable of handling myself, especially to a simple human."

Demetrius, if even possible, stood even more in my path. I gave a sigh, and shook my head in frustration. I tried to step to the side, but my feet were stuck. I looked down at my feet, and sand had covered the tops of my shoes. I focused all my frustration and anger into the glair I was giving the middle of his back.

The person, who I momentarily saw was a man, that looked to be in his mid twenties, spoke again."Y-you're all freaks! Y-you did a… a…I'm not sure what you did!"

"Then how do you know you saw anything at all?" Demetrius asked, ignoring the poking I was giving to his broad shoulders.

"Because I saw you, or rather, I saw _you two_!" the man yelled as he turned to look at Catherine and Kenneth. Catherine visibly tensed, and we could all tell that Kenneth knew it, even though he was standing partly in front of her.

"It's called special affects genius. We were practicing our parts and lines for the movie we're supposed to be staring in," Bj said shortly.

"Yah, and now that you ruined our focus; we'll have to start all over," Ida added, as if she were really mad, but if you truly knew Ida, you could tell that she just wanted to make this guy leave.

"Movie? Special affects?" the guy sounded seriously confused.

"You know the thing that you watch on the television, with the cool sounds and flashy pictures," Bj said, as if he were talking to a small child.

The man just stood there for what seemed like forever in the dense silence, but in reality I knew it was more like only a few minuets. I slowly let out the breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Then I tensed when the man took a step back away from us, with the look as if he had just seen a dead man walking.

"Y-you're all lying! I-I have to tell the police!"

He started to turn and run, but Bj dropped to one knee, and thrust his hands out. A wave of ice crawled along the ground at an amazing rate. The man slipped, and slid along the ground.

Bj sprang up yelling, "Run!"

Demetrius spun around, grabbed my hand, letting the sand fall away from my feet. We started running, Ida in the lead with Bj right behind her. Kenneth and Catherine were about the same speed. I pushed my legs faster to be right next to Demetrius. He put one hand, unconsciously, behind my back, as if to say 'Keep running, and don't look back.' That only made me curious, so I looked back, automatically wishing I hadn't. That guy had called the cops, and being the small town that it is, were here in a heart beat.

Up ahead of us, Ida yelled, "It's a dead end! We're trapped!"

Kenneth turned his head around, and yelled back, "Demetrius, this would be your area! It would be a good idea to do something before we run into the wall, or get thrown back in jail!"

"I'm concentrating on the best places to pull out!" Demetrius called.

I couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about. I didn't have to wait long, for soon Demetrius was, what looked like to me, plucking the air. There was a rattling and a scraping sound that rung through the air. I looked up at the brick wall before me. My eyes widened as I realized that Demetrius had been 'pulling' them out.

"Do you girls climb?" Bj asked.

"We climb, but…" Catherine started to say, she and Ida turned their worried faces to me.

"I'm fine, let's climb. I just won't look down," I assured them.

I could tell that Demetrius was about to ask something, but when gun shots could be heard from behind us, decided to push everybody closer to the wall. Ida and Catherine both grabbed on in an instant. I hesitated, but when Demetrius started to lift me up, grabbed onto the nearest brick. We all started climbing, and soon reached the top. I sat down next to Ida, and breathed out a sigh.

"That was so much fun! Just like from a movie!" Catherine yelled. Then she turned to me and said, "Are you alright?"

"Yah, your fear of heights can really get in the way sometimes," Ida said from my left.

"I'm fine. I didn't look down, and obviously I didn't freeze on the way up," I said, trying for a warm smile, and failing, so just went for the cheesy one.

Catherine had walked over to the edge that led back down to the alley. "What are they doing?" she asked very surprised and angry. Her hair started to stand on end, blowing in the non-existent wind.

"Catherine, calm down. What are you talking about?" Ida said, as we both walked over to her.

Catherine just dropped to her stomach, and pointed down. Ida and I both did the same, peering over the edge. The boys hadn't climbed up after us, and were now standing surrounded by cops. The conversation was very vague, and hard to hear. I looked down at the three boys, Bj on the right, Demetrius in the center, and Kenneth to the left.

"T-there were three more with them. T-three g-girls." The man from before was telling one of the cops.

"No there wasn't." Kenneth told the cop directly in front of him.

"Guys, be quiet, they can't make us talk, nor can they prove that we are guilty of any crime," Demetrius told his brothers in a voice of authority. Bj and Kenneth both nodded their head once in understanding.

"They are obviously lying! C-can't you tell? How do you explain the three missing girls? They're doing some k-kind of d-dark magic!" the man yelled, horrified.

"He is a witness, boys; you'll have to come down for some questioning," one of the police officers had told them, and started to walk forward.

Bj sighed. "So much for keeping a low cover. Should we leave, or do we bust out?" he said, as if there was nobody around but his two brothers.

Kenneth looked at Demetrius, "I say we bust out of here, what you guys think?"

"I agree," Bj seemed to be in a right happy mood.

I was containing my laughter, at the cops' expressions. They were all in fit of confusion. The cops were looking form one brother to the other, eyebrows raised.

Demetrius made a movement with his shoulders, as if they were tense and was trying to relieve stress. Then I realized that it was a signal to Bj and Kenneth to get ready. Bj and Kenneth both sprung to the sides, and got into their battle stances.

Kenneth was standing as if he were ready to draw a hand gun, knees slightly bent, and eyes narrowed. Bj was kneeling down on one knee, eyes on the alert, hands just barley above the ground. Demetrius stood as still as a statue, with his legs just a few inches apart, hands open with his palms, facing inward, about three or four inches apart.

"Whoa, they look like they mean business. Not like us, where we tend to smile despite our best efforts," Ida whispered on my right.

"We don't always smile," Catherine protested in a whisper so soft it was barely audible over on Ida's right.

"Well, Ida and I don't _always_ smile; sometimes we just sigh and get it over with. _You_ on the other hand, always smile from the sheer joy of lighting things on fire," I whispered in a voice of mock teasing.

Ida smiled and joked along, "Yah, that's why you got the nick-name Pyro."

Catherine huffed out her breath, and looked back at the boys. Ida smiled at me and gave me a knuckle bump. The cops were all now blocked off from the boys by a wall of stone, with fire along the top, and ice growing up the sides. The boys all turned around, and Demetrius started to 'pull' the bricks back out, for they had gone back in after Catherine, Ida, and I had climbed up. The boys started climbing, and we backed away from the edge. When they reached the top of the building, Catherine, Ida, and I were all glairing, arms crossed.

The boys all looked confused, when Bj finally asked, "What?"

Catherine crossed in front of Ida and me, and stood glairing up at Kenneth, five foot five inches, from her height of five foot three inches. Ida stormed up to Bj, both standing five foot five inches. Demetrius was looking down at me from five foot nine inches. At five foot three inches, I think I stood my ground pretty well.

"Alex," Demetrius put his hand on my shoulder, "Alex, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Ida yelled. She started to storm up to Demetrius, then doubled back and started pulling Bj by his shirt. When she reached us, she repeated her question, "What's wrong?"

"Yes, why are you girls so mad?" he asked, truly confused.

Instead of answering him, I countered with a question of my own. "Do you think that we can not handle ourselves? Hmm? It kind of looks that way! The way you all made us go up, then didn't follow! What were you thinking?"

Kenneth spoke up, "We were thinking that the police would think that the guy was crazy if there were only three of us at the end of the ally and not six."

"It didn't work so well, huh?" Bj asked, while rubbing the back of his head.

Ida, Catherine, and I all sighed. '_Boys,_' I thought sarcastically.

"Come on, we better get going before they send a helicopter up to get us," Ida said, taking Bj's hand and leading him over to the stuff. I walked over and picked up my stuff, checking to make sure that everything was there. I slung my rucksack over my right shoulder, and headed toward the edge of the building, on the opposite side of were the boys had trapped the police officers.

I closed my eyes, and with my hands, made a symbol that sort of looked like two tick-tack-toe boards. I opened my eyes and a bridge made of some very thick vines was linked to the building across from us. I took a deep breath to steady myself -remembering the last time I did this- causing my fear of heights. My hands were trembling, as I placed my arms out to balance myself. My right foot found one of the thick vines, and I started across.

"Alex?" Catherine asked, concerned.

"F-fine, I'm fine. Though we should only c-cross one at a time," I replied, still shaking slightly.

Once I made it over, Catherine followed, also taking her time. Soon Ida, then Kenneth, Bj, and finally Demetrius all made it over. I turned to Catherine.

"Catherine?"

She nodded, showing that she knew what I was asking. She turned to Ida, who also nodded in her acknowledgment. Catherine walked back over to the bridge, and ran her fingers over each vine. They caught fire almost immediately after she touched them. Catherine didn't even try to hide the smile that had formed across her face, she loved to watch things burn. Ida would create small bursts of water, as to make sure that the flames –and the smoke- didn't get to tall.

Once the bridge was no longer there for evidence, and nothing was still on fire or smoking, we headed toward the fire escape on the side of the building. We all climbed down, going Bj, Ida, Catherine, Kenneth, me, and then Demetrius. When we were all down, and walking around town, we had no idea where to go next.

"So, what now guys?" Bj asked.

"Um, I have no idea. What do you think we should do next Ida?" I asked.

"Um, Catherine?" Ida asked when she failed to come up with what our next move should be.

Catherine thought for a moment, before glancing around while saying, "I think we should try and find that construction site that the note told us to go."

"I think an information place would be best, you know, to get a map," Kenneth added, thinking that it would be faster to get a map then find the construction site rather than just walk around town.

"Okay, anybody know where we can find a map?" I asked.

"There's always the police station. Alex, Catherine, and I can all go in and ask while you guys hide around the corner of something," Ida suggested.

"That's brilliant, Ida!" I exclaimed.

We all headed back toward the café that we had eaten breakfast at this morning, and across the street to the police station. Only, we didn't notice the police officer from the last town putting up flyers. Flyers of Catherine, Ida, the boys, and I.

We walked into the station, and looked around. We walked up to the guard- in maybe his mid forties- behind a desk, reading a news paper.

"Excuse us sir, but do happen to have a map we can have?" Catherine asked.

"Sure do, little missy," he replied in a southern accent, without putting the paper down.

He dug around in his desk drawer, and pulled out a brochure looking piece of paper. He handed it over the desk to Ida.

"Thank you," I said, as we turned around to leave.

Just as we were about to leave, he said, "Hey, hold up a minuet."

We turned around, and he was looking at his newspaper with a confused expression.

"Is something wrong officer?" Catherine asked, as we all backed up toward the door slowly.

"Yah, what are yawl's names?" He asked, finally putting down the paper, but not taking his eyes away from the front page.

"Well, I'm Rose," I said. It wasn't a lie that really was my middle name.

Ida and Catherine both caught on instantly to what I was doing. We would have given high-fives had the officer not been looking at us for the first time since we entered the station.

"May," Catherine replied, looking the officer straight in the eyes.

"Anastasia," Ida said, taking a bow like you would after acting a play, or singing in a concert.

"Hmm, you girls look a lot like those girls that were missing from the neighboring town. Must have been my mistake," he apologized.

"It's fine; don't beat yourself up about it. It was a simple mistake. After all, you are human just as I," I reassured.

"Alright, enjoy your stay here," he said as we turned around and walked out the door of the station.

We walked around to the alleyway where the boys were. The way they were all rubbing their hands on their thighs indicated that their palms were sweaty. I inwardly grinned; they were obviously worried about us getting ourselves arrested.

"You," Kenneth had to give a cough when his voice came out cracked, only confirming my hunch. "You girls get the map?"

Ida held it up, waving it in the air. We walked over to where the boys were standing. Demetrius took his place standing behind me. It was kind of intimidating, though I didn't pay it much attention. I was going to get my dad back, and kick whoever's butt took him. I would kick whoever's butt destroyed our home-on-wheels, but I remembered that it was our fault it was destroyed.

Once figuring out where the construction site was, that was apparently going to be a small shopping mall; we headed out of the alley. Rucksack on our backs and sleeping bags under our arms, we crossed the small town.

**Chapter Seven: The Second Note**

"This is supposed to be a shopping mall?" Bj asked.

It was true. The under-going mall looked more like a city dump instead of a place for socializing. There were lone pieces of lumber, scrap medal, cans of paint, buckets of cement, large moving equipment, and a lot of things I couldn't name if my life depended on it.

"It's under construction," Ida replied when nobody spoke for a moment.

"Still, shouldn't it at least look _something_ like a building? It looks more like that art that people pay millions of dollars for. You know the ones that are just a bunch of junk in a pile made by an important person?" Catherine commented, tilting her head to look at a different angle.

There was a long silence that was making me nervous. I was antsy to find my father and get out of here. Something just didn't feel right about this place. I started to shift from foot to foot while bouncing up and down. I could see Demetrius looking at me from the corner of his eye. He put his hands on my shoulders to stop me from bouncing.

"Alex, calm down," he commanded.

"Yah, Alex. What's wrong with you?" Ida asked, turning to face me.

"I don't like it here, something's wrong," I said.

"Alright," Kenneth started, "let's split and see if we can find anything. The faster we find your dads the faster we can get out of here."

I nodded, and started to walk off in one direction. Catherine and Ida grabbed my arms to bring me back.

"We should at least know which direction everybody was going," Ida said.

"Yah and how long before we all meet back here at the entrance," Catherine added.

"Oh, right. I was just testing to see if you guys knew that," I joked. It was something we always said to one another when we did something wrong, or stupid.

Ida rolled her eyes, and Catherine smiled. She turned around, and pointed directly in front of her.

"I'll go this way," she said. "We should be back in ten minuets if we don't find them. If we do, then we should call to the others."

"Alright!" Bj yelled, and then added, "How do we do that?"

"I don't know, just like, yell it or something," Catherine said with a shrug of one shoulder.

"I'm going the way I was going before," I said.

Demetrius nodded and said, "I'll go this way." He pointed just a little to the right of where I was going to.

Kenneth was a little to the left of Catherine, and Bj took to the left of the center, and Ida to the right. I turned to walk in my designated direction, but, once again, somebody grabbed my arm. Demetrius turned me around, and looked me straight in the eyes.

"Be careful?" he asked.

I gave him a hug, and whispered, "Yes, I will. I can handle myself."

"Yes, of course. I just worry is all."

I looked up at him, and our eyes met. His melted chocolate ones connected with my pair of forest green. I didn't even notice that we were both leaning in until our noses brushed together. My eyes widened as our lips touched, before fluttering closed. I think the world must have stopped as I stood on my tip-toes to link my arms around his neck. His left hand was in the middle of my back as his right slid up into my messy black tangles. I began to get light headed, and realized that air was an important thing. I reluctantly pulled away, my face so deep a new red was added to the chart. My feet went flat on the dirt, and my eyes half opened.

"We should go find your father now," Demetrius said hoarsely.

"Yah, we should," I whispered.

Demetrius and I were about to go our separate ways, when water shot up into the sky, just above where the main section of the mall is supposed to be. We took off that way, and soon reached Ida. When she turned around, I noticed she was holding a folded piece of paper. I ran to stand next to her just as Catherine, Kenneth, and Bj showed up. We all gathered around so we were standing behind Ida.

"What is it Ida?" Bj asked excitedly.

"I don't know, let's find out," she said, even as she unfolded the piece of paper.

On the paper, there were two simple, dangerous, meaningful words. _**Turn around**_ was in big, swirly, bold letters. We all spun around; to see somebody we had seen just this morning, with brown curly hair and a sweet smile.

**Chapter Eight: Explanation**

"Hey, weren't you our waitress that brought us apple juice this morning?" Bj asked, stating the obvious.

The young girl, no more than eighteen, laughed. She put her hands on her hips, and put all her weight onto her right foot. She flipped her hair out of her face with a toss of her head. Her big, light brown eyes set into a glair when she looked back at us.

"Yes, I was," she said. "I was also the s-stuttering man on the street during the little fight."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, as Demetrius moved the slightest ahead of me.

There was a bright orange light that practically engulfed the girl. I shielded my eyes against the light. When the light was gone, the young waitress was no longer standing there. Instead, in her place was the guy that caught Catherine and Kenneth using their powers. He, she, whatever the gender was of this person laughed at our stunned faces.

"Oh, and let's not forget our good friend the chief," the man reminded.

Once again the blinding orange light engulfed the man. This time the chief that was had brought Catherine, Ida, and I into the police station was standing before us. I was dumbfounded as to how this person was doing this. Was this some sick joke? If it was, I was not finding this funny.

"Well, are any of you going to say anything, or should I show you one more," the chief asked.

Once the chief had transformed, there stood a woman around her late thirties with shoulder length blonde-brown hair and big brown eyes. I saw Demetrius stiffen in front of me, and I was instantly concerned.

Bj took a step forward, one hand out, and whispered out, "Mom?"

"Abjit, my son," the woman, apparently the boys' mother, whispered with a small smile on her face.

Ida grabbed Bj's arm, and pulled him back to stand next to her. I looked up to see Demetrius' face. Though his face had no emotion, it didn't take a rocket scientist to see the hurt in his eyes. They sparkled, tears threatening to show, and his shoulders slumped ever so slightly. It made me sad to see him like that, though a person that didn't know him would think he was fine. I reached my hand up, and brushed his left arm. He turned those sad eyes to me, and touched my cheek with the back of his left hand.

When he faces back, he addressed his mother with his demanding voice. "Why are you doing this and where are these girls' fathers?"

"Now, now, don't get ahead of yourself," she said. She tilted her head to one side, smiled, and stated, "My Demetrius, you look so much like your dad. Though I will say, Kenneth got his spirit."

Demetrius growled, "Answer the questions!"

She shrugged, and said, "Because my boss was worried about these three girls."

"What do they have to do with anything? Their just the same as any of us," Kenneth said, taking Catherine's hand in his right.

The woman laughed. "They have to do with everything! They have a great job ahead of them, and my boss felt threatened by their power."

"Well what about us? We have powers too," Bj argued.

"No, you see, my son, these three girls are the guardians of the Earth. As my boss has many people with powers, like I, working for him, he can foresee the future. Like I am 'The Watcher', there is one that calls themselves 'The Eye', who sees everything that is to happen later. They foresaw the downfall of my boss."

"I'm confused. So, are we the good guys or the bad guys?" Ida asked.

The woman shrugged, "I'm not going to lie to you in front of my sons-"

She was cutoff by Demetrius snapping, "We are no longer your sons. At least, I'm not."

Bj and Kenneth both nod their heads, and she continues on as though she had not been interrupted, "So, I work for the bad guys. Bj, Demetrius, and Kenneth were supposed to join us when they turned eighteen. The Eye had seen that my boys choose you over me," she shrugged. "So, I set them up to look as though they had robbed the local market. Once they were all safe in jail, I went along to set traps up that your camper could get a flat tire on. After your fathers were headed toward town, I shifted to be a hurt little girl. They fell for it, and came to help me. Once they were close enough, I shifted to be a big thug."

I was repulsed that someone would do such a thing. Demetrius saw that I was shaking, and rubbed my arms, as though I were cold. I looked over to see that Catherine had tears pricking at the corners of her eyes, and Ida was shaking just as I was. I felt something wet hit the top of my head, and I looked up. Dark purple and gray clouds were rolling in quickly above us, lightly sprinkling down upon our heads.

"Once they were knocked out, I took them to a place I knew you would never find them," she continued.

"Oh, yah? Where was that?" Ida asked.

"Why, my house of course," she said as if it were obvious. "After that, I shifted to look like the chief-who was conveniently out of town-and told all the other officers that I decided not to take the vacation. I told them the story about your fathers being mugged and murdered. They bought it, and we headed over to where your camper was. You know what happened after that."

"I will admit I was not expecting you girls to spring my sons, and go looking for your fathers. I was merely going to kill you later. So I put a note on your door, where I was to lead you here, and kill you. I tried being a waitress, where I was going to ask you girls to help me with something real quick, and then kill you. But you left, so I had to try something else."

"That's when you turned into that crazy guy on the street," Bj pointed out.

"Yes, I was going to try and get the cops to shoot you girls in the leg or something. And then while you were in the hospital I was going to kill you with a shot, but my boys got you out of that one," she said sourly. "I was running out of options, so I just decided to wait for you to come to me. And here we are!"

**Chapter Nine: Ida's New Gift**

"I still don't understand," I said, stepping around Demetrius to stand by his left side. "Why us? Why are we such a threat to your boss? What were we going to do?"

"You were going to stop him from taking over the world. After all, you girls are the guardian trio, destined to guard the Earth," she replied.

"How? We're only three fourteen year old girls, how could we save the entire Earth?" Catherine asked, squeezing Kenneth's hand.

"That's what I asked, and my boss merely told me that there were powers that you girls had not uncovered yet," she said distractingly. Then she snapped out of it, and said, "So, you boys can step aside and let me get this done, or I can force you to move."

All six of us got into our fighting stances, and Bj said, "Neither. We don't want to hurt you mom, but we will if you try and hurt these girls."

I could see Ida getting angry, and thunder started up above us. I glanced up, then back at Ida to see a single tear escaper her right eye, just as a light sprinkle started back up. The boys' mother glanced over to Ida, and a worried look came to her eyes.

"You there, short brown hair. Name," she demanded.

"Karida Anastasia Osen. I don't believe you have introduced yourself," Ida said.

"Mari. You be sure to watch those emotions of yours. You might get somebody hurt."

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" Catherine asked.

After a few seconds, I finally got what she meant. I shot my head in Ida's direction.

"Ida! Your emotions control the weather! Am I right?" I asked Mari.

"Smart girl, you must have been watching your friend while paying attention to your surroundings," Mari said.

"Alex does pay the most attention to those kinds of things. It's why she's great at finding loopholes in situations," Catherine said, flexing her fingers.

"Right, now, let's get this over with," Mari said.

As the bright orange light came back, Catherine got fire going in her palms along with Kenneth, and Ida got water. When the light was gone, where Mari used to be standing was a great lion. Though this lion looked to be the size of two put together. I became frightened as the lion gave a mighty roar, and charged.

**Chapter Ten: Fight**

I shot vines up and toward the lion. My vines tangled around one great paw, but did nothing to slow it down. The lion kept charging, and my vines snapped in pieces.

_'Think Alex! That obviously isn't going to work,'_ I screamed, trying to get my vines around the lion's center.

I watched as both Catherine and Kenneth tried to burn the lion, though not enough to kill it, after all, it was still the boys' mother. Well, sort of. The lion was jumping around at incredible speeds, avoiding all of their attacks. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Ida was trying to center her frustration. Lightning was coming down from the clouds, but yet the lion was still avoiding. Bj was sending icicles out toward its large paws. The icicles just broke on impact. Demetrius was trying to get his stone around the lion's tail, trying not to hurt it.

"Alex!" Demetrius' worried voice knocked me out of my little observing trance.

I looked in front of me, only to see the lion charging at me. Panicking, I made a tree shoot up underneath of me. I grabbed onto one of the branches as I went farther into the sky. The lion's head made impact with the trunk of the tree, snapping it like it was nothing more than a twig. As the tree started to fall, I made another tree shoot up, though not as tall. I jumped into the other tree, then back onto the ground just as the first tree landed with a big _thud_. I ran over to stand next to Demetrius.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"For getting attacked by a giant lion-that's also my boyfriend's mother-and falling out of a tree? I think I'm doing pretty well," I said sarcastically.

"Okay, stupid question. Are you injured?" he rephrased.

"No," I answered, stomping my foot on the ground in frustration.

The ground started to rumble, and the lion fell to the ground. The lion quickly got back up, and roared again. Its eyes landed on me, then down to my feet. I glanced down as well, and then back up. I think I just did something with the ground. I smiled widely, and stomped my foot again, setting off another earthquake.

"Alex, are you doing that?" Catherine asked.

"I think so," I replied, my smile growing even wider.

Catherine and Kenneth both got their fire going again, but they were too close to each other. Their fire mixed together, causing the rest of us to stair in awe. Catherine's fire was glowing blue in her hands. No, not _in_ her hands, the fire was _surrounding_ her hands and arms. She put her hands up in front of her face, and stared at them in shock.

"What the heck is that, Catherine?" Ida asked.

"I don't know, but this is hotter than my other fire, I can feel it," she replied, smiling and getting back into her fighting stance. "Let's see what this fire can do."

The lion gave another mighty roar, bringing our attention back to the fight. Bj made ice go along the ground just as I sent an earthquake out. The lion wobbled on the ice, and completely lost its balance when the ground shook underneath its paws. Ida shot lightning in front of its face, shocking its whiskers to give us just a few more seconds. Demetrius had stone lock its paws together, preventing it from standing. Finally, Catherine and her new blue fire created a cage of fire around the giant cat.

As we cautiously approached the cage of blue, the lion was engulfed by orange light. I was worried that it was going to change into something larger, but it turned back into Mari. Demetrious made his stone go away, and I replaced it with handcuffs made of vines. Mari struggled to stand on the ice.

"You lurid little brats!" she screamed.

Demetrius hugged my shoulders, and pulled me into him. I looked up at him, and smiled. We were all dirty, sweaty, and tired. Ida spoke up, breaking the momentary silent moment.

"So, what do we do now?" she asked.

Demetrius shrugged, looked at his two younger brothers with Catherine and Ida, and then back to me. He hugged me tighter and said, "Take her to the nearest police station."

"Demetrius, she's your mother. Are we really going to do that?" I asked.

"Yes, she tried to hurt you, Catherine, and Ida. That's not something I would be able to sleep with; knowing that she could just come into your camper."

I turned and gave him a hug, whispering, "Okay."

"I say," Bj spoke, the smile in his voice but not on his face, "that we get mom one of those nice white padded rooms."

We all cracked up, and the sky cleared of the dark purple clouds. I looked over at Ida, and a true smile was on her face as she laughed. I looked back up at Demetrius, stood on my tip-toes, and gave him a small peck on the lips.

"Alright, we should get going," Kenneth said.

After dropping Mari off at the police situation and explaining the situation-just that she tried to kill us, not everything else-we set off back home.

**Chapter Eleven: Reunited**

I dropped my rucksack on top of Ida's as we all raced inside the boys' house. It wasn't the largest house, but it was a nice size. Right when we entered, there was a hallway with two archways. The one to the left led to a living room, while the one on the right led to a dinning room that you could see led to a kitchen. There was a staircase directly ahead of us, and we raced up the stairs.

There were many rooms on the upper floor, and we all checked a room. Catherine opened the first door; bathroom-nothing. Ida opened the next; closet-nothing. Demetrius opened the third; his room-nothing. I opened the next; weight room-nothing. Kenneth opened the fifth while Bj opened the sixth; their rooms-nothing. There was one more room on the upper floor.

"Of course, the last stinking room. Why is it always the last room?" Ida asked, as we all went toward the last door in the hall.

Ida, being the first to reach to door, tried to open it.

"Locked," she said. "Do you guys have a key, or do I get to bust it down?"

"Just bust it down, it's our mom's room," Bj said as we all reached her.

Ida smiled and rammed her left shoulder into the door. There was a loud _crack_ as the door fell off its hinges. We all rushed inside, and found our fathers all handcuffed in a chair.

"Daddy!" Catherine, Ida, and I yelled, and ran over to them.

"Alex! Are you alright?" my father asked me, looking at my ruined, dirty clothes and my dirty face.

"I'm fine daddy, what about you?" I asked.

Bj, Demetrius, and Kenneth were looking for some sort of key, or something to pick the cuffs with.

"I think I found it!" Kenneth said excitedly, holding up a key he found in a nightstand drawer.

He handed it to Catherine, who tried it on her father's cuffs. The cuffs opened, and he gave her a huge hug. She handed to key to Ida, who did the same thing with her father, and then handed the key to me. Once my father was out of the cuffs, I gave him a huge hug around his shoulders. Once I let go of my father, Ida's father spoke.

"Not to be rude, but who are they?" he asked, pointing to the boys.

We all laughed, and I stood next to Demetrius. Ida stood by Bj as Catherine took Kenneth's hand in hers. Our father's all looked at us through slightly narrowed eyes. Catherine spoke.

"Dad, this is my boyfriend, Kenneth. Kenneth, this is my dad Chris," Catherine said.

Catherine's father's eyes widened, but took Kenneth's hand.

"Chris Summers," he said.

"Kenneth Clark Williams," Kenneth said, looking nervous.

"Daddy, this is my boyfriend, Demetrius. Demetrius, this is my daddy Parker," I decided to just get it over with.

Demetrius stepped forward, extending his hand out to my father. My father just glared at it.

"Daddy," I hissed.

My father took Demetrius' hand, and shook it once.

"Demetrius Petar Williams, pleasure," Demetrius said.

"Parker June, likewise."

Okay, this was probably the most awkward moment of my life. Ida took Bj and bounced over to her father, who was smiling, though his eyes were still slightly narrowed.

"Dad, Bj, Bj, dad," Ida said waving her hand between the two.

The two shook hands, and Bj said, "Bj Patrick Williams."

"Robert Osen."

'_Well, at least that's over,'_ I thought.

"Well, Chris, Parker, I think we'll be in this town for a long time," Robert said, looking at the six of us smiling.

Chris nodded, "It appears so. Maybe it's time we start looking for a permanent residence. What do you think girls? Tired of moving around?"

"Yes!" we all yelled in unison.

Our father's all laughed. My father opened his arms, and I gave him a hug.

"You're growing up, Alex. So fast I think I've gotten whiplash," my father said, kissing the top of my head.

"I'm still your favorite daughter, no matter how old I get," I teased.

"You're my only daughter," my father laughed.

"That's why I'm your favorite."

My father laughed again as I stepped back next to Demetrius. My father looked at me again, and smiled.

"You need a shower, Alex," he said.

I looked at the rest of us, and laughed, "I think we all do, daddy."

**Chapter Twelve: Epilogue**

One month later, and we're all living with Bj, Demetrius, and Kenneth. We had found out that the boys' father-Petar-had died some years back of leukemia. We got an extension on the house, because our fathers wouldn't let us share rooms if it was that or their lives. Our fathers are letting us choose the food that we eat, though I still cook. It doesn't bother me, I enjoy cooking. Sometimes, Kenneth helps me cook for everybody. Demetrius told me that Kenneth enjoys cooking. Our fathers sold the camper, and trashed the destroyed contents. Most of our stuff survived, but some of it didn't. Soon, Catherine, Ida, and I will be enrolling in the public school that the boys attend. But right now, it is summer break, so I'm not going to worry about that now. Nor, am I going to worry about who Mari's boss is. Right now, I'm just going to sit and enjoy the weather.

"Alex," I heard Ida say, just as I got hit with water.

"Ah," I screamed, as she and Bj started to crack up.

"Erg! That's it!" I yelled as I sent vines after the two.

Yep, this is my life. And I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'll just deal with everything after I'm done with these two.

31


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